Chicken and Dumplings: Dinner

My brother requested I make Chicken and Dumplings. I asked him if he wanted Chicken and Biscuits or Chicken and Dumplings. He said Chicken and Dumplings. That’s what he got. Turns out he meant Chicken and Biscuits. Men. But I’d never actually made Chicken and Dumplings before and I like to try new things, so I read a bunch of recipes and then made up my own. Cuz that’s how I roll 😛 This was a quick recipe, ready in 45 minutes. If you’re using pre-cooked chicken, it would be ready in 30 minutes.

Chicken and Dumplings

Ingredients:
*4 cups water
*2 tsp chicken base (if you don’t have chicken base, substitute 2 cups chicken broth for 2 of the cups of chicken broth)
*1 can cream of celery soup
*1 can cream of chicken soup
*I medium onion finely chopped.
* 1 1/2 cups frozen peas
*1 1/2 cups chopped frozen carrots
*2 lbs cubed chicken (small pieces) (this is also a good recipe for leftover roasted chicken or turkey)
*1 can refrigerated biscuits (don’t buy the butter style, you’ll make your dish greasy). I used a can of the grands, but it doesn’t matter what size the biscuits are, really, just buy a can of biscuits.
*salt and pepper to taste

Directions:
1. Saute the chicken in a minimal amount of oil in a large stockpan. While sauteing, season with desired amount of salt and pepper. Skip this step if you’re using leftover chicken. Or canned chicken.
2. When chicken is nearly done, add finely chopped onions and saute.
3. Once chicken and onions are cooked through, add peas and carrots and saute for a few minutes, just to take the chill off.
4. To the chicken and veggies, add the water, chicken base (or broth), both cans of soup. Bring to a boil.
5. Once the mixture is boiling and well mixed, separate the biscuits. Tear them into small pieces (1 inch pieces) and flatten slightly. I usually take one biscuit, flatten it in my hands, and then tear it into pieces. Throw the pieces into the pot as you tear them. Once all the biscuits are in (don’t worry, it might be a little crowded), mix it up a bit, cover, and let simmer for 15 minutes.
6. Serve. Yum!

You can adapt this recipe by adding finely minced garlic with the onions, using celery or other veggies. I thought it was good kept simple, and my family liked it, but there’s nothing wrong with experimenting!

Chicken n Dumplings, you put the dough directly into the broth. So you’re not baking it, you’re boiling it, so the mixture starts out a little more soupy, not quite as thick because then the dumplings soak up some of that and have a different texture than biscuits. Chicken n Biscuits, you bake the biscuits on top of the mixture and have…biscuits.

And Annmarie, your mama clearly has way more time in her day than I do if she has time to worry about whether the biscuits are from a can or from scratch 😛